'Florida G.I. Bill' passed Tuesday; land to be bought around Mayport to stave off BRAC

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Three weeks after the Pentagon announced major cuts to the active military and state National Guard forces, Florida’s Legislature took steps to ease the impact, offering education help, improving National Guard armories and providing more educational reimbursements to guardsmen.

Perhaps the biggest announcement from the “Florida G.I. Bill” for Jacksonville was a provision for $7.5 million to buy land around Florida military bases to buffer them from future closings.

After a legislative workshop on base encroachment (private development crowding out military training capabilities around bases), a list was made of Florida bases most endangered by private development, said Sen. Audrey Gibson, vice chair of the military and veterans affairs committee. The bases would likely rise on the at-risk list if the base realignment and closures (BRAC) of which Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel warned last month come to fruition.

The $7.5 million will be used to safeguard three bases against encroachment: MacDill Air Force Base in Tampa, Naval Support Activity Panama City and Mayport Naval Station in Jacksonville.

“It sends a signal to the BRAC commission as well that Florida wants to keep the installations we have and keep the people we have,” Gibson said.

When it comes to the Florida National Guard, keeping the people Florida has is critical.

While Florida is one of the most disaster-prone states in the country, it is last in terms of the guardsmen-to-civilian ratio. To that end, the bill had several parts aimed at bolstering a military force that has been snubbed in recent budget battles in Washington.

The Florida Legislature provided $12.5 million to refurbish some of the state’s aging National Guard armories.

“Some of Florida’s armories have not been modernized since the 1960s and funding ... is critical to the National Guard’s ability to keep armories safe and serviceable,” according to a news release from the state Senate.

Another major focus of the bill was education. The state will now offer in-state tuition to all out-of-state veterans at Florida colleges and universities.

“I get calls all the time, some from Afghanistan, Sicily, Iraq, besides in the states here, asking, ‘What do I need to do to go to school at UNF?’ ” said Rich Carey of the University of North Florida’s Military and Veterans Affairs Department. “My first question is always, where did you join the military from?”

UNF currently has 19 veterans paying out-of-state tuition. That works out to an extra $6,000 per semester out of pocket.

“That’s good for us, because it brings more veterans to Florida,” Carey said.

Besides the obvious good intentions, that might be exactly what the Legislature was looking to do.

Other states have recently launched massive initiatives to draw veterans to their states.

“We already have a large contingent of veterans here, and we want them to stay,” Gibson said.

The bill also provides an increase in education spending for Florida National Guard members. Guard and Reserve soldiers don’t get the same education benefits provided by the Montgomery and Post-9/11 G.I. Bills. The legislature added $1.53 million per year to the state Education Dollars for Duty program that provides a limited means of reimbursement to guardsmen.

The amount used and available fluctuates each year depending on funding and can lead to uncertain times near the end of the semester for some soldiers.

“That actually runs out every year,” Carey said. “You always have to look at the end of the year and see if there’s any money left in the program.”